Really interesting press conference with Curtis Jones. He is extremely complementary of Slot, and he believes that Slot’s style of play better suits his game. He says that under Klopp the midfield needed to be more functional and disciplined. But under Slot it is more of the heartbeat of the team. Under Klopp we played like we were in an hurry to get the ball forward, where Slot wants to make sure we keep the ball and kill teams that way. Our first major hint into how our style of play with differ. Watch the press conference here: 📺 Curtis Jones Press Conference: "I'm the happiest I've been... this now is more me"— This Is Anfield (@thisisanfield) July 25, 2024
Starting eleven I would like to see tomorrow: Kelleher Bradley Quansah VDB Tsmikas Endo Bajcetic Elliott Jones Szoboszlai Salah
Ooo , Kaide Gordon. Lets see some of these in a game, please. Kaide Gordon slapping it bins 🤌🏻[@LFC] pic.twitter.com/cSUhJOKYZW— Anfield Sector (@AnfieldSector) July 26, 2024
As in like it's full of gangsters and dealers, we're too scared.... Orrr it's a shit hole, there's ******** all going on.....it's a dead thing and there's literally no one there?
If you are any good and you take that shot under no pressure 10 times you'll likely do that.... Doing it whilst sizing up encroaching defenders and your own motion amongst them is the issue. Even then, there's always a bit of luck involved unless your name is Messi and the year is 2011 or 2012 or 13
Kelleher; Bradley, Quansah, Van den Berg, Tsimikas; Endo, Jones, Elliott; Salah, Carvalho, Szoboszlai
wasn't sure why you put out two 6's for a preseason game. my guess is Endo and Baj will swap out at HT.
Few familiar faces. 💚💚💚Our starting eleven for #LiverpoolFCRealBetis!#BetisDay pic.twitter.com/ASKKmmvYil— Real Betis Balompié (@RealBetis_en) July 26, 2024
Actually, was in Pittsburgh last summer and it actually has quite a nice downtown area these days. Lots of stuff to do there. I think it’s really bounced back from its low point in the 80s-90s.
the Guardian's summary of what to watch for in our preseason .... Who is involved in Arne Slot’s first pre-season tour? Getting to know a new squad in a summer when most senior players have been away on international duty could be “a disadvantage but not an excuse” according to Slot, and the reality of his first pre-season was laid bare by the 28-man squad that headed out for a three-game tour of the US on Tuesday. The squad looked heavier on Carabao Cup winners’ medals than Premier League experience. The absentee list reads: Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch, Darwin Núñez, Luis Díaz, Cody Gakpo and Diogo Jota. Some will join up later in the tour but this is very much an opportunity for youngsters to impress Liverpool’s new head coach. Jayden Danns and Bobby Clark were left behind, however, as they recover from back problems. “Ideally I would have started in a season when there were no Euros and no Copa América,” admitted Slot. “But that’s not the situation and you have to take it the way it is.” The first glimpse of Slot’s style in Liverpool colours Slot may be short on established personnel for a tour that starts against Real Betis in Pittsburgh on Friday, before moving on to Philadelphia to play Arsenal next Wednesday and Manchester United in Columbia, South Carolina on Saturday week, but it will offer a first look of the style that attracted the club’s new football hierarchy to Slot nonetheless. There will be similarities with Jürgen Klopp’s approach but, as the Dutch coach said at his official unveiling, he is “not a clone of Jürgen”. Expect Liverpool’s full-backs to have different roles and players to have the freedom to switch positions when the team is in possession. “Sometimes it’s a 4-2-3-1, sometimes it’s a 4-1-4-1, sometimes we build up with three,” said Slot when outlining his tactics last month. “There is a lot of freedom when we have the ball but, if we don’t have the ball, then there’s not so much freedom. Then we want to be really aggressive and there’s only one way and that’s everybody mostly keeps his position.” The return of Stefan Bajcetic Bajcetic will be hoping a new start at Liverpool applies not only to Slot. The gifted midfielder has endured a terrible time with injuries since making an impressive breakthrough two seasons ago. He was restricted to just one start last term – the Europa League group game in Linz – having recovered from a groin issue that cost him the final months of 2022-23 only to then suffer a calf injury. Back problems, attributed to growing pains, ruled him out for another seven months. The 19-year-old has enjoyed a full, intense pre-season so far and Liverpool are hopeful Bajcetic’s fitness problems are firmly behind him ahead of Slot’s debut campaign. Central midfield is an area where there is likely to be change under the new head coach and Bajcetic has an early chance to push his claims through a fiercely competitive field. A chance to test the readiness of Vitezslav Jaros The three-match tour gives Slot a chance to assess the strength of his back-up goalkeeping options with Alisson enjoying a post-Copa América holiday. Caoimhín Kelleher should be first choice in the US but whether the Republic of Ireland international will be prepared for another season as a No 2 after making 26 first-team appearances last season is yet to be determined. As Kelleher admitted at the end of last season: “Whether it’s here at Liverpool or somewhere else, I do feel the next step for me is to be a No 1.” Liverpool wanted to keep Adrián as experienced cover but the 37-year-old rejected their offer of a contract extension to rejoin Betis, his first professional club, on a free transfer. Adrián’s exit and the doubts over Kelleher’s future create an opening for Vitezslav Jaros, the 23-year-old who was part of Czech Republic’s squad at the European Championship. Liverpool consider Jaros part of their senior goalkeeping pool after an impressive loan spell at Sturm Graz last season, where he helped the Austrian club to a league and cup double. That assessment could be examined in the US. The lack of new faces There is over a month of the summer transfer window still to play out – rest those angry fingers on social media – but the absence of any new signings, coupled with so many big names missing, will understandably disappoint fans who have paid over $400 in some cases to watch Liverpool on the US tour. Richard Hughes, Liverpool’s new sporting director, has said the club’s transfer strategy this summer will be “opportunistic”. The view is that there are no glaring holes to fill in Slot’s squad – at least not in the short-term – and that last summer’s midfield overhaul addressed the major issue facing his predecessor. But there is always space for improvement. Liverpool were interested in the central defender Leny Yoro, the Real Madrid target who ended up at Manchester United instead. They were offered Anthony Gordon as Newcastle looked to balance their books before the 30 June financial deadline. The long-term futures of Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk and Mohamed Salah have yet to be resolved, with each major asset entering the final year of their current contracts. Plenty of work to be done before the 30 August deadline.
I think I was reading that they may try a 4-2-3-1 that shifts back and forth to a 4-1-4-1 depending on the situation. EDIT: yeah, see above…. Sam posted that as I was sending this…